Head Coach On Disagreements With Ronda Rousey

Tarverdyan is the striking coach for the UFC female bantamweight champion, who returns to the Octagon this Saturday night at UFC 193 against Holly Holm.

While some recent headlines have been negative towards the coach, he is constantly reminded that it might never get better than it is right now.

“She’s really intelligent about having her career and acting after she retires. But me, after I retire with her, it’s going to be difficult. Why? Because at this age young – I’m only 33 – having a champion like her and then finding another girl that could really – or anybody that could fight at that level – it might be a bit different,” he said, during a recent interview with Submission Radio. “But I could never compare two fighters together. As long as I’m a trainer and I could bring the best out of the fighter, they’re abilities, and as much as they could perform. If they work hard in the gym and they give it their best and they listen and they’re great students and they’re great human beings, and I work with them and they come to a certain point and they win a world title; I should be happy with that and I should be satisfied.

“And I could always share the great moments of what I’ve done with Ronda, and they should be happy to hear it and learn from it, instead of being jealous about it and not being happy that Edmond always talks so highly about Ronda. It’s because it’s a unique situation and Ronda’s a unique individual. And Ronda, again, there will never be another Ronda Rousey.”

While it’s not always been peaches and cream between the two, Tarverdyan admits they have come to learn from one another.

“We’re from two different cultures and we’ve had misunderstandings in certain ways, and we’ve learnt from each other. And I accepted that, hey, I wasn’t raised that way and she wasn’t raised like the way I am, so we have to understand each other,” he said. “As long as we appreciate each other and we speak to each other and we come to a conclusion, that this is the way it is, this will make both of us better, and we moved on. And there has been a lot of learning in our careers as we’ve been next to each other, other than just fighting.”